On arriving at the airport

The Madrid International Airport, called Madrid-Barajas, is located 12 km to the Northeast of Madrid's city limits, on the plain in the valley of the Jarama river.

All flights arrive at the Madrid-Barajas International Airport, which now has 4 terminals plus one satellite terminal.

• Terminals  T1 ,  T2  and  T3  are the old ones, and they are interconnected.
• Terminal  T4 , and its satellite  T4S  (s is for satellite), opened in February 2006 and since then all Iberia and One-World alliance flights arrive and depart from this new terminal.

Here you can consult the Madrid-Barajas Terminal used by you airline company.

There are a few important things to know about getting to and from  T4 :

• It is located several kilometers away from Terminals  T1 ,  T2  and  T3 .
• There is a free shuttle-bus service between terminals ( T1  departures,  T2  departures and  T4  arrivals) every 3 minutes, but if you are connecting between the terminals you need to allow extra time to make this journey.
• The Metro does not reach  T4 . There is an EMT bus to get the Barajas Metro station. The entire trip will take about 1 hour 15 minutes to the city center.
• Some flights depart from Terminal  T4S . In this case, you have to check in as normal at Terminal  T4  and then you have to take an underground train to Terminal  T4S . You should allow an extra 15-20 minutes to get to your boarding gate for these flights.

You have the following options to reach the center:

• Taxi
It should cost around 25-30 €.  Usually, from the Airport to the motorway ring is 9 €, depending afterwards on city traffic conditions. It is advisable to use the official taxi ranks as roaming touts, inside the airport building, who offer lifts are often on the look out for an easy rip-off.
• Underground
It depends on the Terminal:
• Terminals  T1 ,  T2  and  T3
  Metro line number  8  has the Aeropuerto (Airport) station inside the airport building (in Terminal  T2 ). The journey time between Aeropuerto station and the centre of Madrid (Nuevos Ministerios station) is 12 minutes.
• Terminal  T4  (and its satellite  T4S )
  There is not a Metro station in this new terminal, but the underground network can be reached by taking EMT bus 201 to Barajas station (end of line  8 , NOT the Aeropuerto station).

If you use two bus lines or a combination of Metro line and bus line, you must pay for two tickets.

• Bus
It depends on the Terminal:
• Terminals  T1 ,  T2  and  T3
  Line 200 to "Ave. de América" (connection with Metro lines  4 ,  6  ,  7  and  9 ) or line 101 to "Canillejas"(connection with Metro line  5 ).
• Terminal  T4  (and its satellite  T4S )
  Line 204 to "Ave. de América" (connection with Metro lines  4 ,  6  ,  7  and  9 ) or line 201 to "Barajas" (connection with Metro line  8 ).
• Car rental
Most major car rental agencies are represented at the airport, and there is plenty of space in the reasonably priced car parks.

This is a summary of city centre - Airport connections by underground and bus.

última actualización: 18-04-2006 por fjn